Young Crush
by pinkpower
Summary: “Manny,” He corrected, “is pretty.” A look at how Manny got her nickname. Cranny! oneshot


**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

Craig sat on a wooden foldable chair all by himself. There was a part of him that felt guilt for being here, since his father had to work shifts at the hospital today. Craig's heart yearned for his father's presence. He felt alone right now. Although, he had seen him hit his mother a few times before, Craig still loved his dad. He did, after all, work long hours at the hospital, so he was stressed out a lot. The guy was only human, so Craig tried not to think much of it.

But, Mrs. Manning had eventually met someone else and today she became Mrs. Jeremiah. That had been the name she had been squealing about for the past three months. Julia moved out of the Manning household, which had been a heartbreak for Alfred. For the first few days she had been gone, Alfred just stuck young Craig at his grandmother's, until he had realized how his missed his son; he didn't want to be alone in a time like this, anyway. Still, things had been tough to get through.

All this drama had been too much for the seven-year old Craig to fully comprehend without asking any questions. Whenever he saw his father cry, all he could do was hug him, but Craig never blamed his mother. He just couldn't, even if it had been her own fault for Mr. Manning's hurt. After all, she would drop by every weekend to try and make it up to him with candy or an action figure. Craig loved his mother dearly. She had the warmest smile in the world, with a bubbly personality to match. To Craig, Julia Jeremiah could do no wrong; she was the perfect angel.

And, for the most part, Craig liked his new stepfather, Joey Jeremiah. He had been always telling some corny that Craig had to laugh at. It did take him a couple of weeks to warm up to Mr. Jeremiah. At first, things had been solely awkward for the two, and there was a reason why Craig found himself disliking this stranger. His mom had obviously loved this guy, and Craig didn't like that idea whatsoever. He would much rather his parents get back together, instead of Julia marrying somebody else. In fact, Craig secretly blamed Joey for his parents' divorce. It wasn't fair, he thought. Why did this have to happen to him?

But, over time, Craig grew to like Joey. He realized just how hard Mr. Jeremiah had been trying, so he didn't the need to outright hate this guy. Besides, there had to be a reason why his mom had liked him. So, if he were good enough for Craig's mom, then maybe he could at least try to like Joey. That thought had helped Craig some, but the hurt had still always been there. He knew for a fact that his real father didn't like Joey, so Craig kept himself repeating any of Joey's jokes to his father, out of respect and fear.

Craig sighed, watching everybody having a great time at the wedding reception. For him, it had been rather boring, because there was nobody there to play with him. He glanced at his mother, whom was dancing in the arms of her new husband. Craig smiled at himself, glad that his mom was happy, but he still wished that she was with his father. It was hard to accept that all of this was his new reality.

After a few more moments of quietly thinking to himself, the curly-headed boy saw two girls running around tables and wide spaces between the people who had been dancing, playing tag. He scrunched up his face, still in the stage where he thought that girls were 'icky.' But, in a matter of seconds, Craig caught himself staring at the female with dark, midnight black hair. He quickly noticed that she was 

wearing a fluffy yellow dress, with a white ribbon tied around her slender waist. It took him five more seconds to realize that he had developed his first crush, completely forgetting about his previous thoughts on girls. He mentally was taking notes on just how pretty this girl was. He looked in on her smile, which was bright with happiness. It reminded him of his mother.

For minutes, all Craig could do was stare at this girl, trying to memorize every inch of her astounding features. He was amazed at how beautiful she was. Craig could even promise that there was a yellow light that surrounded every time he heard her laugh. And, that laugh… It was like music to his ears. He seriously liked the girl, yet it never dawned on him that she actually had a name. When the thought finally did occur, Craig tried guessing in his head.

_Donna… No. She's too pretty._

_Mandy?_

_Rachel? Nope. I don't think so._

Craig had been interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a sharp crying from the girl he had so much liked. He ran to her side as quickly as possible, as if he were the Flash. He saw that the girl had a medium-sized cut across her ankle, but when he saw her tear-stained, chocolate brown eyes; that's when he felt like crying, too. Another girl was there, too. This one was blonde and he didn't seem to think she was as pretty. She was awkward-looking, with two front teeth missing.

"Are you okay, Mauela?" The blonde one asked, gently elevating her friend's ankle.

_Manuela…? Oh, okay. That's pretty, I guess. _

Manuela sniffed, wiping away her tears. "I fell over that rock." She pointed to a sharp, gray rock that was sitting next to Craig's foot. "It cut me, too."

"Do I need to get my mom?" Craig asked, offering the small girl a gentle smile. She returned his smile, with her tears decreasing. Manuela shook her head, 'no.' "Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh." Manuela answered, holding her ankle. She let out a faint gasp, as she felt blood seep out her broken skin. To utter relief, three women rushed towards the young girl, Craig's mom had been one of them.

"Are you alright, Manuela?" Craig guessed that this one was Manuela's mom, because they looked so much alike. The raven-haired woman kneeled next to her daughter, rubbing her back.

"I'm sure she's fine, Julietta. It's nothing that a fluffy-fluff band-aid can't fix. Right, Manuela?" Julia asked. Manuela nodded, continuing to wipe away the tears from her eyes, so the adults wouldn't think she's a crybaby. Julia picked up the little girl, and gave her a tight hug. Craig couldn't help, but feel his heart warm at the sight of his mother and his crush getting along. He knew the caring person that Julia had been, and for some reason, he just knew that Manuela was the same way. "Craig, why don't you stay here and dance with Emma?"

"Will M-Ma… um," Craig had a hard time saying this name. He finally decided just to give her a nickname. "Will Manny be okay, Mommy? I like her a lot." Craig said, innocently tugging at his mother's dress.

The three women laughed.

"She'll be just fine, sweetheart." Craig's mom said, giggling at how cute her son could be.

Finally, as Julia turned to leave to find a band-aid as Julietta followed, Craig exchanged sad glances with _Manny_, as they waved at each other. The two mouthed, "Bye," to each other. The third woman smiled, softly pushing her daughter, Emma Nelson, into Craig. The boy laughed, deciding that he should listen to his mother, and dance with this girl. The two didn't talk much, since Craig had been too preoccupied with his thoughts about Manny.

When Manny returned with a band-aid on her ankle, Emma and Craig went running towards her, excited to she was just fine. Julia set her on the grass, hugging the girl.

"Manny!" Craig yelled.

She giggled at him, looking to Emma. "I like that name, Em. Call me from Manny from now on, okie?"

Emma nodded, "Manny… That sounds kind of weird, but it's okay, I guess."

"Come on, Manuela. It's time to go home." Julietta started, grabbing the girl's hand. "Say goodbye to Emma."

"Bye, Emma." Manny waved at the girl, grinning. "Bye, um…"

"It's Craig." The curly-headed boy laughed, running his fingers through his hair. "I hope I'll see you again."

"Me too. Bye Craig." Manny said, as her she and her mom turned away from the small group of people.

Craig smiled to himself. Today hadn't actually been that bad for him. His mother kneeled down and kissed her on the cheek, asking, "Manuela is pretty, huh?"

"_Manny,_" He corrected, "is pretty."


End file.
